Don't Hold Back
by Gryfinz
Summary: Set after the events of Volume 3. A broken Yang is forced to face reality when an unexpected gift shows up at her window. Now, she has to fight to find her former partner, all the while facing the feelings that have suddenly begun to arise for the missing Faunus. Bumbleby.


Chapter 1. Wake Up

" _I need her._ "

Yang's eyes sprung open, her heart racing and her semblance roaring. Groaning, the blonde ran a hand along the top of her head and through her hair, feeling the dampness of sweat on her fingertips. Surprised, Yang reached down to feel the inside of her thigh, and gasped at the amount of heat she felt radiating from her own skin. While the huntress was immune to burns or true pain when it came to her semblance, she could still feel the heat and knew when her temperature had escalated. In this case, it had done so to the point that she had been sweating in her sleep, something that rarely happened unless the girl truly allowed her emotions to get the best of her.

" _What was I dreaming about?"_

While Yang couldn't remember what had awoken her from her less-than-peaceful slumber, she could chance a guess. She shook her head, her blonde hair cascading around her shoulders, trying to erase the intrusive thoughts that had entered her mind. Long, dark hair, delicate but strong hands wrapped around the covers of a book, a soft smile meant only for Yang. The most painfully lovable pair of fluffy ears.

" _Stop._ "

These thoughts should have made her mad. Self-control had never been her strong suit. However, all Yang felt was the cold clutch of apathy slowly spreading it's frosty haze over every waking hour of the girl's pitiful existence. Bedridden for months, Yang had found that while at first, a voice inside her would cry out, pushing her to get up, break free, do _something_. However, over time even that internal motivator's voice had long since been silenced.

Now she was truly alone. Even Ruby had eventually left, seeking to strengthen herself and right the injustices that had befallen Remnant. But that was Ruby, ever the naive optimist.

" _She left me too._ "

Yang almost sneered, a wave of fresh cynicism welling up inside of her.

" _They all left. Weiss, Ruby, even-"_

" _No._ "

The wounded huntress curled her fingers into a fist, driving her fingernails into her palm and drawing blood. She wouldn't think about _her._ Whenever she let her mind drift too freely, it would always come back to that damned Faunus, and Yang would feel a pang of _something._

It was unacceptable.

The truth was, Yang had grown to appreciate her indifference. It protected her. It made her strong. Allowing any emotion in would only reveal how weak she truly was.

Finally able to regain control of her thoughts, the blonde reached to grab her scroll to check the time. In the weeks following her injury at the hands of Adam, Yang had constantly found herself reaching for things with her right arm, only to receive a new wave of shock when she found her phantom limb incapable of making changes in the real world. In these moments she would feel sick, waves of pain shooting up and down an arm that wasn't truly there.

Now, however, she had grown used to what she was.

" _Weak._ "

" _Disabled_."

" _Worthless._ "

Silencing her self-deprecating thoughts, Yang looked at the time.

"4:30, huh?" she said aloud, deciding that any noise was better than hearing her internal monologue. No voices were there to respond however, and the room was immediately cast back into an oppressive silence.

Of course there was nobody there to answer. However, after constantly being around the same three people , building bonds and trust, always being there for each other…

Even after all this time Yang still hadn't gotten used to the silence.

Suddenly, her eyes flew open and she gasped, realizing her mistake. Quickly, however, she regained her composure, the only remaining signs of her sudden outburst blinked back within, never to fall from her eyes.

She had almost missed them.

She had almost hunched over, waves of pain coursing through her entire body.

She had almost cried out, almost sobbed openly for the losses she had suffered.

She had almost missed _her_.

But she hadn't.

Yang sighed deeply, turning for the first time to look out the small window next to her bed, hoping to find some comfort in the darkness beyond.

The darkness, however, seemed to have different plans.

Catching her eye in what would otherwise be an empty field of black, something on the windowsill was illuminated in the faint light of Yang's scroll.

For the first time in far too long, something stirred within the heart of the huntress.

Yang's hand shook as she moved to open the window, the cool night air dancing across Yang's skin as the window sprung upwards. All veneers of dispassion now cast abruptly into the night, the blonde brawler's heartbeat was racing.

Sitting on the windowsill was a small, heavily worn book. Yang pulled it inside, clutching it to her chest for the briefest of moments before setting the object delicately in her lap. Immediately she recognized the title, despite the apparent age of the book and the areas where the printing had been ripped from the cover.

 _Where The Wild Grimm Are._

Images flashed through Yang's mind as she stared at the cover of the book. Summer Rose reading to Yang and Ruby as they lay in bed. Yang telling her partner in a private moment how this had been her favorite story when she was young.

The child in the story running away.

With every ounce of inner strength she had left, Yang opened the front cover of the book, wet tears finally beginning to stain the pages.

Written inside in neat cursive were two small words, two words which broke the final vestiges of Yang's apathy like a damn splitting open from the force of the emotions held behind.

 _I'm sorry._

Clutching the book to her chest and sobbing, Yang screamed out the window into the dark forest beyond, all of her rage and sorrow and pain from the past months escaping in one extended syllable.

" _BLAKE!_ "

...

(Author's Note): So I probably won't be doing many of these notes but since it's my first one, thank you for reading the first chapter of my first fic ever. I hope you enjoyed, and this will be ongoing, so be sure to keep up with it if you liked it. Thank you!


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